Giant spambot slayed, saving huge chunk of energy

Even if you’re not a Windows fan, you ought to thank Bill Gates if you’ve noticed a drop in the amount of spam in your inbox today. The Microsoft Digital Crime Unit cooperated with law enforcement officials to shut down a server farm that powered the world’s largest spamming network. It produced some 30 billion spam emails a day, a whopping 40 percent of all such messages.

The network consisted of approximately 2 million infected computers powered by a a clatch of servers, using a total of approximately 13 terawatt hours of electricity.

Law enforcement may be able to use the servers to learn more about the spam network, but they say that its masterminds will probably have it up and running on new servers within a month.

Microsoft’s beef with the spammers, before you hail Bill Gates as a conquering green hero, was that they had infringed the company’s trademark.